Contract Information writer/editor (one year ) jobs

Dedicated to creating social change through music, AudioActive  provides free open-access sessions, workshops, and opportunities  that empower young people in Sussex to explore their talent, find  their voice, and shape their futures. Whether it’s emerging rappers,  producers, or vocalists, AudioActive nurtures raw potential,  providing young people with the tools to turn passion into purpose.  From grassroots sessions to talent development, AudioActive is  where music meets social impact. We are restless, unafraid, and  excited about what we do. 

The Director of Operations is a delivery-focused leadership position  responsible for ensuring AudioActive runs like clockwork. This  role is perfect for someone who thrives on creating order from  complexity, enjoys the satisfaction of well-oiled systems, and takes  pride in operational excellence. You’ll be the backbone that ensures  everything functions seamlessly, allowing our creative teams to  focus on their transformative work with young people. 

As part of the Senior Management Team (SMT), integrity and  discretion in handling sensitive information will be paramount.  Our ideal candidate thrives in a collaborative environment, ready  to contribute to the growth of our organisation. Enthusiasm, a  positive attitude, and a passion for our mission are qualities we  highly value. If you are a proactive starter-finisher with these  attributes and a commitment to making a difference, we invite you  to join our team.

Responsibilities:

LEADERSHIP

• Contribute to ongoing development of the business and strategic plans
• Lead implementation of operational plans and decisions
• Deputise for CEO when required
• Support learning and development of direct reports
• Develop and maintain key stakeholder relationships
• Identify operational development opportunities for the organisation

OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT

• Lead organisational governance and operational functions
• Develop and maintain operational systems and solutions
• Responsibility for building and asset management
• Ensure compliance with statutory requirements
• Oversee GDPR, insurance, and health and safety protocols
• Implement and maintain quality management systems
• Oversee IT infrastructure and digital systems
• Manage the Trustee Meeting organisation, document generation, trustee communication and administration
• Explore ways to make operations and facilities more environmentally sustainable as Environment Lead
• Ensure environmental considerations are factored into organisational decision making. 

SYSTEMS EXCELLENCE & PROCESS MANAGEMENT

• Design, implement and continuously refine operational workflows and procedures
• Establish and maintain comprehensive process documentation and standard operating procedures
• Conduct regular systems audits to identify inefficiencies and implement improvements
• Working with the Business Analyst, oversee the creation and maintenance of operational dashboards and performance metrics
• Develop fail-safe procedures and contingency planning across all operational areas

HUMAN RESOURCES

• Design, implement and continuously refine operational workflows and procedures
• Establish and maintain comprehensive process documentation and standard operating procedures
• Conduct regular systems audits to identify inefficiencies and implement improvements
• Working with the Business Analyst, oversee the creation and maintenance of operational dashboards and performance metrics
• Develop fail-safe procedures and contingency planning across all operational areas

See attachment for further responsibilities 

Role Title: Media Specialist
Salary: £42,205 -  £43,417
Location: London-Hybrid (1 day per week in Office)
Tenure: 18 Months' Fixed Term - Full Time

ActionAid UK is a member of the ActionAid Federation, an international charity that works with women and girls living in poverty. We work with our partners and dedicated staff in 43 countries to end violence and fight poverty so that all women, everywhere, can create the future they want

Are you a keen advocate of women and girls’ rights in emergencies? 

Are you a passionate communicator and media professional who believes in the power of storytelling to drive change? 

Do you want to help shape a fairer world by amplifying the voices of feminist movements and communities experiencing injustice? 

Then we'd love to hear from you!

At ActionAid UK, we’re looking for a Media Specialist to join our dynamic Media team. In this pivotal role, you’ll respond to media enquiries, pitch impactful stories to journalists, and craft bold narratives that reflect the lived realities of women and girls around the world. Working closely with partners, activists, and spokespeople, you’ll write compelling talking points, prepare media materials, and contribute to the development of strategic messaging that supports our campaigns and organisational goals. 

You’ll also help ensure that our storytelling remains rooted in our anti-racist and feminist values, presenting people’s experiences with depth, dignity, and respect. This role involves working on confidential and sensitive issues, and you’ll need good judgement, diplomacy, and resilience. What we're looking for: 

• A confident media professional with a strong background in media relations, ideally in an advocacy or campaigning context.
• A natural storyteller and sharp writer with excellent attention to detail.
• An understanding of the UK media landscape and how to build trusted journalist relationships would be desirable.  

This role is not just about coverage—it’s about impact.  You’ll need to be a confident writer with sharp editorial instincts and a passion for progressive, rights-based storytelling. You’ll handle media enquiries, pitch powerful stories to journalists, and craft compelling narratives that centre the voices and lived experiences of women and girls from marginalised communities and respond swiftly to breaking news and humanitarian emergencies. You’ll also be part of a team that centres anti-racist storytelling storytelling, supporting communities to lead in how their stories are told. At ActionAid UK we work at the intersection of gender justice and international development, offering a supportive hybrid working environment, opportunities for learning and development, and a culture that values bold thinking, collaboration, and systemic change.

If you’re ready to use your skills to elevate unheard voices, challenge injustice, and help shape the media narrative around women’s rights and global equity—then we want to hear from you.

Due to the nature of this role, the successful candidate will be asked to participate in criminal records checks at the point of offer. 

Additional information

Diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging:

Diversity, inclusion and belonging are key to our organisational culture. We are on a journey to become not only an anti-racist organisation but one that proudly celebrates the diversity of all applicants and employees. We look forward to you bringing your full self to work, proudly sharing your unique perspective and helping us to shape our combined future. We especially welcome applications from those from under-represented/marginalised communities.

AAUK is a Disability Confident Committed organisation and as such any candidate that declares a disability will be shortlisted for interview if they meet the essential criteria for the role.

Referencing and safeguarding:

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include safeguarding, criminal records and terrorism finance checks. By submitting an application the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures. 

ActionAid UK is committed to preventing any form of sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse (including child abuse and adult at-risk abuse) and responding robustly when these harms take place. We expect all ActionAid UK staff and ActionAid UK representatives to share this commitment. We will not tolerate our staff or other representatives carrying out any form of sexual harassment, exploitation or abuse towards anyone we come into contact with through our work.

Working practices:

ActionAid is committed to supporting flexible working. If you would like to discuss flexible working options, including the possibility of a job share for this role, there will be space to do so during the interview process.

ActionAid UK has a hybrid working policy for many of our roles. The requirement will vary from team to team and the responsibilities of individual roles. As a minimum, all colleagues are expected to attend the office 12 days per year, plus additional time for induction, training, and company connection days. Some roles may require in-office attendance on all days and if so, these will clearly be marked as in-office roles.

Please note that ActionAid UK does not offer fully remote working options. We encourage you to discuss hybrid working expectations at interview.

Recruitment processes:

Please note that ActionAid UK may review, shortlist and interview candidates prior to the closing date so we encourage all candidates to apply as soon as possible. If we receive a very high response, we may close the vacancy early and will not accept further submissions.

Who we are

Chefs in Schools is a young, ambitious charity that’s rapidly growing. Our mission is to improve kids' health, through improving school food & food education. We focus our efforts in areas of high socio-economic deprivation, where more than a third of children are entitled to free school meals, and diet-related disease is driving further inequality. 

We support and train school kitchen teams to serve the best, freshest and tastiest food possible, alongside meaningful food education. We share learning and resources, aiming to inspire and enable others to follow our lead.

We’re backed by some of the biggest names in food and have ambitious targets to ensure every child has access to incredible school food and food education,  setting them up for life with the skills and knowledge to feed themselves well.

About you and the role

The purpose of this role is to manage operational delivery of our School by School Programme, ensuring efficient and effective delivery. 

You will be supported by our Chief Innovation Officer, and manage our Chef Trainers delivering our School by School interventions. You will work closely with the Director of Partnerships & Impact, our School Engagement Manager and our Research Supervisor. 

Your role will oversee our School by School interventions, delivered across multiple school sites. This role will be primarily focused in London, but will include supporting schools in locations across the UK as we develop new hubs. You will be joining a dynamic and growing charity who are passionate about delivering exceptional training, skill sharing, expertise and know-how to advance the quality of food preparation, food service and food education in schools.

You will have an understanding of the context that we operate in, education and food sectors. You will have strong people skills, and the ability to manage effective partnerships with external organisations. 

The responsibilities, skills and experience listed below are intended to give you an idea of what we need for this role. If you don’t meet every single requirement, but feel as though you would be able to work with us to deliver the majority of them, we would urge you to apply anyway. We are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, and for us the most important ‘experience’ is passion for our mission. You may be just the right candidate for this, or other roles. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, especially those from underrepresented communities, to apply.

We want to get to know you at the interview and understand we can do this best if you’re at ease. We’re an inclusive employer and work hard to create a welcoming working environment for everyone, including appointing a neurodiversity champion to help us identify how we can make our work environment work for everyone. If you need adjustments to the interview process please let us know.

As we work with children & young people, an offer of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and DBS clearance, in line with our safeguarding policy.  

The responsibilities:

• To work with the Chief Innovation Officer to ensure that all programme delivery of school interventions is delivered in line with our vision, values and ethos.

• To support and manage our Chef Trainers to ensure that programme delivery is carried out in the most effective and efficient way.

• Coordinate and oversee all programme activities, including scheduling, logistics, and resource allocation.

• Managing the programme budget, identifying issues, and ensuring milestones are met. 

• Work closely with the Chief Innovation Officer, Director of Partnerships & Impact and the School Engagement Manager to assess, cost and propose suitable programmes of support for schools and multi-academy trusts interested in our School by School programme. 

• Working with the School Chef Educator and Membership teams on our regional expansion strategy, creating schools that are centres of excellence across the country.

• Working with the School Engagement Manager, attend and contribute to meetings with the Senior Leadership of prospective new schools and academies, developing proposals and financial forecasting.

• Liaise and manage relationships with the Senior Leadership in the schools and academies we work with, being the key contact for operational delivery of programmes. 

• To ensure that service level agreements are agreed with schools and that our delivery matches the agreements.

• To monitor costs of the programme delivery, reporting progress of programmes to the Chief Innovation Officer, identifying any risks or delays to programme delivery. 

• At all times to ensure that our school interventions are being delivered in a legally compliant, cost-effective way.

• Work closely with the Chef Trainers to ensure our advice to, and work in, schools is legally compliant.

• Support the Chef Trainers in monitoring legal safety compliance in schools, promptly flagging major concerns to the Chief Innovation Officer and where appropriate, the key school contact.

• Ensuring learning and evaluation is embedded in our programme delivery, working with the Chef Trainers to document best practice learnt from each programme. 

• To work alongside the Director of Partnerships & Impact and Research Supervisor to ensure that we’re collecting accurate and relevant data to measure our impact, evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the programmes, conducting regular assessments and measurements.

• Work with the Research Supervisor to support preparing reports on the impact of the School by School programmes, including statistical data, trends, and success stories. 

• Work with the School Engagement Manager to maintain accurate data records and ensure our contacts database is up to date with relevant chef, school lead and engagement information. 

• Collaborate with the Chef Trainers to ensure the delivery of high-quality services that meet the needs of schools. 

Your skills and experience

You'll be the right person for this job if:

• You are passionate about food and believe in our mission to improve kids' health through improving food and food education in schools

• You enjoy problem-solving and working in a dynamic environment

• You have some experience in leading or managing a team within the food sector

• You have some experience working in a similar multi-site role 

• You have financial experience in the food sector - e.g. costing recipes, stocktaking, finding the best cost for ingredients. You’ll be comfortable with spreadsheets, monitoring financial costs, and producing financial forecasts

• You are organised, methodical, strong on detail, and able to map out deadlines and plan ahead

• You are able to engage effectively with senior leadership teams in educational settings, and are proactive and confident in addressing challenges

• You are an excellent writer and communicator with strong presentation and facilitation skills 

• You are skilled in building rapport with people and strike a balance between being supportive and challenging 

• You have experience working with various individuals and organisations, building relationships, and collaborating effectively to deliver successful projects

Benefits

You would be joining a friendly, supportive team who works hard but believe in a healthy work/life balance. We were voted one of CODE Hospitality’s happiest places to work in 2024. We seek a diverse range of perspectives, skills, experience and knowledge. Joining a small, collaborative team means you’ll be able to contribute to and draw on various projects and strategic insights.

We offer 33 days of holiday per year including bank holidays, 3 additional office closure days over the Christmas period as well as wellbeing days over the summer school holidays.  We also have a Cycle to Work scheme, hybrid working, enhanced parental leave, and free access to the CODE app for discounted restaurants & hospitality venues. We are committed to developing our team and will support you with relevant training opportunities including £250 towards elective training and development of your choice.

We also offer Bupa Dental Insurance, Income Protection Insurance, as well as access to the Aviva Smart Health Platform which offers health benefits including free rapid access online GP appointments, free counselling and wellbeing support.

Application process

In line with our commitment to ensuring a fair and unbiased recruitment process, we invite candidates to answer a series of questions related to their day-to-day job. Please follow this link to answer the questions and submit your application along with your CV.

We recommend that you develop your answers offline and copy them in when you’re ready to ensure you don’t lose your work if interrupted.

Your answers will go through our sifting process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised and then reviewed by a panel of reviewers. A long list of candidates will then additionally have their CVs reviewed.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a 30 mins online interview. Successful candidates will be invited to attend a second, in-person interview at our office in Brixton, London.

Expected duration of this application process: 6 weeks

Application deadline - Midnight Tues 19th Aug.

First interviews (online video call) will be held online on Thurs 28th Aug.

Second interviews (in-person) will be held on Thurs 4th Sept.

Cord is an international charity working to make peace a reality where people don’t have the freedom to exercise their rights. We work to build the relationship between those in power and local communities. 

We believe that people flourish when all parts of society work together. Peaceful relationships make that possible. The simple act of talking begins a journey of growth which transforms mistrust, includes the excluded and turns adversaries into allies.

Cord operates in eight countries and implements programmes in the following areas:

• Empowering Women & Girls
• Accessing Fundamental Freedoms
• Climate & the Environment
• Economic Empowerment
• Supporting Stronger Societies

We are a small, committed team who love working together to make a huge impact. If you like the sound of us, then take a look at the recruitment pack and come and join our team!

About the Role

Are you someone who is passionate about seeing positive change in our world? Can you bring knowledge and creativity in designing innovative and effective peacebuilding programmes?

We are looking for someone to support our programmes and institutional fundraising with excellent writing skills, who is passionate about addressing the root causes of and inequalities caused by conflict. You will be someone passionate about the work Cord does and who can bring technical institutional funding expertise alongside peacebuilding knowledge to our small and committed team.

In this role you will lead the development of new programmes and institutional funding bids in line with Cord’s peacebuilding approach and 5 main programme areas. You will manage proposal submissions to Cord's key donors such as the EU, US State Department, GIZ, SDC, UN Peacebuilding Fund etc. You will be working closely with country teams to design and write proposals based on strong project designs developed in partnership with our local partners.

The role will also operate at a strategic level by managing Cord’s relationships with key donors and shaping how Cord communicates about its programmes and the added-value that Cord brings.

If you like what you read and are passionate about real and lasting change, come and join us and be part of the Cord story.

Application Instructions

To apply please send you CV and a covering letter that explains your interest in Cord and the role, and details how you fulfil the requirements of the role.  

Please note:  Funding for this position is contingent upon the successful award of external funding that is currently in process and expected to be finalised in Autumn 2025. Whilst the recruitment selection process will run concurrently, the official appointment of this role will take place after funding is officially secured.

This is a UK based remote role and applicants must have the right to work in the UK and the ability to travel to Coventry for team meetings.